Happy times are coming

This week is the one we always look forward to every summer.

The Cameli boys are coming to Kansas for about the fourth or fifth year in a row to take in the easy life in Hillsboro and the Marion County Fair. Oh, and they really like our swimming pool. We should keep better track of visits and travels.

This will be the first time they won?t be traveling as unaccompanied minors. Since Alex is 12 he can be the one in charge of his younger brother, Louis, who is 10. I have no doubt that they will find their way here.

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Last week I wrote about my wasted Saturday afternoon with the motion light switches.

Since then one who reads this column was being helpful and e-mailed me to say that there is a motion detector light socket that will do the same thing.

And it costs about the same as the switches. I appreciate the information, but I want to try something else that might not work.

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Looks like the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico has been shut down and they don?t need my idea to just blow it up. Some plumber from New York claims he was the one who gave them the method to close it down.

I?later heard a report that BP had received more than 300,000 ideas of how to fix the problem.

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There is no substitute for a good maintenance program with any equipment that one owns. Following is an example of what I am talking about.

About four years ago, we purchased an address machine for the Free Press when we went to the broadsheet format. Our old machine just wasn?t big enough or powerful enough to do the job.

Like all new stuff, it worked great at the beginning. But over time, performance starts to wane if you don?t take care of business. The feeder has been acting anemic and getting worse and worse.

I finally found the manual, which I had been looking for off and on for about a year. In it, the instructions stated that you should blow out the vacuum pump filter once a month. How about never yet.

When I located the filter, it was packed full of paper lint. Once that was blown out, it returned to its old self. After it was fixed, I went back and ran it a couple of times just because it works so well. Can?t wait until we address again this week.

I think ongoing maintenance may be one of the most overlooked chores on the planet.

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Johnnie Liles was right about the brick ribbons that were laid in downtown Hillsboro back in 2003. He said they should be tied in with the concrete slabs on either side. Our city project engineer said it would be fine as specified, however, they don?t know our shifting earth in these parts.

Now that Mother Nature has had time to go to work on these bricks, they have settled and shifted all up and down the street. Some places worse than others.

The obstacles created are when walking and shoveling.

I know budgets are tight, but at some point these will have to be reset and anchored somehow to prevent the current hazard they present to the public.

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My wife recently told me that I was a ?keeper.?

What I think she really meant was that I don?t throw anything away. Or at least reluctantly.

I still have my mouthguard from high school football.

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